


Early Morning Coffee

by sassycashley



Series: One Shots [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: DeanCas - Freeform, Destiel - Freeform, Ficlet, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 11:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16911831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassycashley/pseuds/sassycashley
Summary: When the elephant in the room finally gets mentioned between sips of coffee.





	Early Morning Coffee

The sun is just starting to rise when Dean exits the coffee shop, a cup of dark roast keeping his hand warm as he walks outside into the snowy streets of a ski town west of Denver. He looks to the motel across the street where Sam, Cas, and Jack were all still asleep when he left. Turning in the opposite direction, he decides to walk along main street before it’s flooded with tourists again. Maybe it’s the coffee, or the cold morning air on his face, but Dean is considerably less tired than he anticipated after tossing and turning all night. There’s a bench overlooking a park and Dean takes a seat, watching a couple of squirrels chase each other as he sips on his coffee.

It isn’t long before his legs are heavy with cold and he starts to consider walking back to the motel when a familiar hand lands on his shoulder.

Cas sits down next to him, and without a word, takes the coffee Dean offers him and gulps down half of what’s left. Dean watches the curvature of Cas’s neck as he tips his head back to drink, notices the stubble from a day of not shaving. Cas hands Dean the coffee, the cup almost empty.

“We once sat at a park like this one and I told you for the first time that I had doubts.”

Dean nods his head, “I remember.”

“Except we sat on two different benches and there was this space between us. At the time I didn’t realize how much that space would change. That it would get smaller and then expand, and then smaller still.”

Dean gulps down the last bit of coffee, unsure of what to say.

“Sometimes I wonder if that space will ever truly disappear.”

There’s a sleeve around the cup of coffee and Dean fidgets with it as he considers the honesty of that statement. He knows that space. He’s been careful to walk along side it, to nudge himself closer without ever going straight through. There’s ways he’s tested it, like dipping your toe in a lake only to jump back when the bitter cold bites you. And he has jumped back, over and over again. The gentle touches that Cas leans into, their legs brushing underneath diner tables as they listen to the waitress give them the day’s specials. These moments come and go, but Dean replays them in his head until they become unreliable - until he’s not sure if they really happened or he’s just over exaggerating. That’s when he pulls back again, goes without touching Cas for days or weeks or months.

Dean looks up from the cup, scanning the area as he avoids Cas’s eyes. The town is more awake now - families walking to the diner across the park for breakfast. Teenagers wait in line with their parents, their eyes half open as their little siblings run circles in the snow. 

Cas starts to stand up but Dean reaches out to him, grabbing his hand.

“And your doubts?” Dean asks.

Cas’s eyes are soft on him as he sits back down, “They’re different now.”

“I know this life isn’t great, Cas, with it’s shitty road food and almost dying every other week,” he pauses, unsure of how to make Cas understand how much he wants him to stay without guilting him it. Instead, he lets the sentence linger between them.

“I’m not in doubt about this life, Dean,” Cas says, breaking the silence, “In fact, I rather enjoy it. I just wonder if sometimes I imagine things as how I want them to be and not how they really are,” Cas places his hand on Dean’s leg. The space between them grows smaller again. On instinct, Dean thinks of reasons to get back to the motel, back to Sam and Jack. But then Cas starts to pull his hand away and Dean can’t let that happen again - can’t let that space expand once more. 

He turns to Cas and puts his hand on his shoulder and then slides up, until his hand is wrapped around the back of Cas’s neck. Cas inhales, holding his breath as Dean moves closer. Dean’s own doubts start to cloud his mind but he pushes them down, drowns them out by focusing on the angel in front of him. He barely touches Cas’s lips with his own, afraid he might pull back. But Cas presses in closer, his hand on the the side of Dean’s face as the other one grips his knee. There’s kids shouting and birds singing, snowflakes landing in their hair, but nothing breaks them away until Dean’s phone buzzes in his pocket and all those background noises become loud again.

They pull apart, breathless, staring at each other as they gather their thoughts. Dean feels the heat in his face, notices the way Cas’s flushed cheeks mirror his own. He knocks Cas’s foot with his own, playful, until Cas grins and ducks his head.

Dean’s phone buzzes again and he pulls it out of his pocket to find a text from Sam.

“I guess we’ll meet you guys inside?” it reads.

Dean looks across the park, to where Sam and Jack stand, waiting in line for breakfast at the diner. Sam waves, his smirk visible through the snow. He turns away but Jack continues to stare at them with a dopey smile upon his face.

Dean stands up and holds his hand out to Cas, “Breakfast?” he asks. Cas takes his hand and they cross the park together, into a new era.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Originally I just wanted to write a quick Christmas fic but it turned into this instead. I'm currently working on some longer stories so sometime soon I won't just have a bunch of ficlets! You can find me on tumblr as sassycashley :)


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